Mark passes through 84 degrees south

Taking the decision to abandon his attempt on Patriot Hills to the South Pole and then back again must have been very difficult for Mark, as can be sensed from his dispatches. But despite that, he is still pressing on.

Over the past two days, he reckons he has climbed around 1 500 feet up the Antarctic icecap, making a total of 5 100 feet since he left Hercules. Because the South Pole is located at an altitude of 9 000 feet, that means he still has to climb a further 3 900 feet over a distance of 740 kilometres.

On 2nd December, Mark reported that he was sitting there in his shorts, smoking a pipe in his tent where the temperature was plus 22°! Which is not exactly what he was expecting... He also said that he is dreaming a lot about pints of beer and that on one day, he thought he saw a black sheep out there on the ice.

During the last satellite link we learnt that he had just passed through 84 degrees south. He also said that everything was now going smoothly and that giving up on the return journey was no more than an unpleasant memory. On 6th December, his position was 84°11' south / 80° 13' west.

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